Sheila Jackson Lee: “As we speak about criminal justice reform, sometimes children and juveniles are missing--many in the juvenile criminal…”

“As we speak about criminal justice reform, sometimes children and juveniles are missing--many in the juvenile criminal justice system. Today, in the Committee on the Judiciary, we had a powerful hearing that spoke about the integrating of juveniles into a new system and to ensure that we move forward on preventing juveniles from serving in the same facilities as adults; to not in any way cede to a sentence of a life without parole; and to realize the best life for juveniles who may have had a detour, who may have been traumatized, who may have, because of the non-maturity of their brain, done something wrong. But there is a life after. And we should look for those systems that integrate that juvenile back into society. Intervention. And after the incarceration, to be able to bring them to a point where they can be contributing to our society. That is what we are going to move on, the House Committee on the Judiciary. I encourage my colleagues to join us, because our juveniles are not our tomorrows; they are our todays. ____________________”